Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An chilling spectral fear-driven tale from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an mythic horror when unfamiliar people become tools in a diabolical maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of struggle and mythic evil that will remodel the fear genre this scare season. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and immersive thriller follows five figures who wake up sealed in a hidden shelter under the malevolent command of Kyra, a central character dominated by a ancient holy text monster. Anticipate to be drawn in by a cinematic journey that integrates bone-deep fear with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is turned on its head when the presences no longer arise outside the characters, but rather deep within. This depicts the shadowy layer of the group. The result is a intense inner struggle where the plotline becomes a perpetual contest between heaven and hell.


In a isolated terrain, five campers find themselves cornered under the malicious effect and grasp of a mysterious figure. As the characters becomes incapacitated to escape her dominion, detached and followed by terrors unimaginable, they are obligated to acknowledge their inner demons while the deathwatch relentlessly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and relationships erode, coercing each participant to reconsider their being and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The danger escalate with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into instinctual horror, an threat that existed before mankind, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and navigating a being that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers around the globe can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this mind-warping descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate fuses old-world possession, underground frights, paired with IP aftershocks

Spanning grit-forward survival fare drawn from biblical myth and stretching into brand-name continuations alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex as well as tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors stabilize the year using marquee IP, in tandem subscription platforms saturate the fall with fresh voices set against old-world menace. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fear lineup: brand plays, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The brand-new terror year stacks at the outset with a January logjam, after that runs through the mid-year, and well into the festive period, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and strategic counterplay. Studios with streamers are focusing on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that position horror entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a category that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to executives that lean-budget horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The run fed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the market, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a re-energized eye on cinema windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can open on numerous frames, deliver a clear pitch for trailers and reels, and overperform with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and stay strong through the week two if the feature satisfies. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping telegraphs confidence in that dynamic. The slate rolls out with a weighty January window, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a autumn push that pushes into late October and into the next week. The program also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are trying to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That interplay gives 2026 a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a memory-charged bent without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, have a peek at this web-site directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is known enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe weblink project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a youngster’s volatile inner lens. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan linked to returning horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.